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Plans at Stratton

From Act 250 filing. Interesting that they are removing lodging/employee housing for parking. It seems one consistent theme in the discussions regarding EPIC/IKON are the parking issues.

Must admit I'm looking forward to the mountain biking operation.

-In lieu of about 250-300 seats permitted in the Master Plan for the Sunbowl Lodge, they
want to instead renovate the Mid-Mountain lodge to add about 100 seats as well as create a
Summit Lodge with about 200 seats, and not increase the Sunbowl Lodge. The Summit
Lodge creation would utilize the existing footprint of the current ski patrol shack, sun deck,
and the warming hut, all of which would be removed. There would be no additional tree
clearing needed at the Summit. To accommodate the Summit Lodge, they need to trench on
the ski trail from summit to mid-mountain and put in sewer line to the summit.
 Tear down the Liftline Lodge and put in a parking lot. The Liftline Lodge currently holds 80
units of employee housing; They are looking to purchase off-property hotels to offset that
loss. This project would be done instead of doing the previously approved Birches
development shown in the current Master Plan.
 Replace the Tamarack lift within the next two years with a new lift very close to the existing
lift line. The Tamarack lift is 43 years old.
 Remove some tennis courts at the existing Sports Center and replace with an outdoor
swimming pool.
 Develop mountain biking trails on the mountain. ANR has reviewed this and visited some
sites on the mountain; they are conceptually okay with the project according to Jeff.
Stratton expects to seek a permit for this project soon. The plan is for about 12 miles in
total, all on the main face lower mountain. They want to put in three to four trails over a
three-year process. No trees larger than 6 inches in diameter would be removed unnecessarily. The trail width would vary from 2-3 feet to 5-6 feet in places. The trails
would all be below Bicknells Thrush habitat elevation.
 Expand the existing adult ski school building and staff area at the base area. This is years
away in terms of priority

So reduce employee housing when staff is already hard to get...then add a new summit lodge which will require, ya know, more employees. Sounds about right.

Reduce is not exactly right. It said they would offset the removal of the on-site employee housing by acquiring off-site employee housing. Depending on what they acquire off-site, it could actually be a net gain of employee housing.

Reduce is not exactly right. It said they would offset the removal of the on-site employee housing by acquiring off-site employee housing. Depending on what they acquire off-site, it could actually be a net gain of employee housing.

Stratton has already purchased the Swiss Inn in Londonderry for employee housing.

Stratton has not expanded their lodge space for decades and has a problem with crowded lodges and lack of restrooms.

The mid mountain lodge is packed from 10-2 on weekends sometimes longer on big race weekends. This is due to North American/Frank's Fall Line being used for some kind of racing/race training every weekend and the mid mountain lodge is used as headquarters for the racers and their families.
The Sun Bowl is always packed.
The main base lodge starts getting full at around 11:15 on weekends and remains crowded until at least 1:30.
A few years ago, Stratton lost the restrooms at the top of the mountain. Adding a lodge with restrooms at the top will be a big help

their lodges are way too small in comparison to the number of people. the base lodge is way too small and gets worse when races are there. racers parents hog up the tables and there are no places to sit. the service capacity is too small in comparison to the number of customers during the peak season weekends. on one january saturday, i had to wait 15 min to get a beer from the bar. 30 min on the line to get lunch. and if you want two lunch items from different stations, you need to wait in 2 different lines. as for the gondolas, fugettaboutit. so yeah, i'll take any improvements.

Stratton has not expanded their lodge space for decades and has a problem with crowded lodges and lack of restrooms.

big help

Not true. They expanded the main lodge 4 years ago adding 350 seats. They built a 2nd floor above the wings on the main lodge. You can now access Grizzly's from both sides. This was a much needed expansion, but they still need more.

Stratton has already purchased the Swiss Inn in Londonderry for employee housing.

Did they actually purchase it, I had heard they were housing people there, but didn’t know they bought it. They had also housed people at dostals at magic in years past. Lots of commercial real estate in the area with older owners getting out and nobody wanting to buy.